This invention relates generally to protective guards for exterior vehicular lighting; more specifically, it relates to an assembly and a method for protecting recessed vehicle lights from impact with roadway debris such as stones, gravel, and broken glass, said debris being of the type that is occasionally thrown into the air by a moving vehicle.
It is well known that exterior vehicular lighting is subject to breakage from flying debris when a vehicle is traveling along a road or highway. One of the most common forms of debris is the material which is picked up by the tandem wheels of a truck and figuratively "thrown" at a following vehicle. Another common form of debris is the material that falls off the open beds of trucks that are hauling construction materials such as gravel, crushed rock, fill dirt, etc. And coal, trash, chunks of ice and other things that are not tied down are always subject to falling out of or off trucks, where they become equivalent to missiles when they strike lenses and lamps on other vehicles. Even if these "missiles" do not cause the breakage of any glass that is associated with vehicular lighting, they can cause such scratching and pitting on the exterior surface of a glass lens as to eventually interfere with the projection of light in front of a vehicle.
Of course, it is also well known to try to protect the lights on a vehicle by placing a grill, screen, or transparent cover over the lights. An early example of a wire grill is shown in a 1916 U.S. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 1,187,968) to Cherry entitled "Combined Headlight Guard and Dimmer." An example of a screen-type protector is shown in a 1932 U.S. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 1,890,130) to Scardina entitled "Headlight Lens Protector." An example of a plastic, transparent cover for a vehicle light is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,290,497 which issued in 1966 to Ragle et al. entitled "Headlight Protector." A characteristic of all of these protectors is that they are designed to protect headlights and they are very specific in their size, shape or mounting configuration. That is, they have been designed for direct mounting to some portion of a very specific vehicle headlight; therefore, these protectors would not normally be categorized as "universal," in the sense that they could readily be attached to lights of a variety of shapes.
It is also known that lighting systems for some automobiles and nearly all trucks often include recessed lamps that are mounted behind portions of the vehicle body, e.g., a bumper, to provide secondary lighting on one or more sides of the vehicle. For example, it has become common practice to provide pairs of auxiliary driving lights behind cutouts in the front bumpers of heavy trucks. Because of their close proximity to the roadway surface, these low-mount lights are particularly susceptible to damage from the impact of roadway debris. To protect these and other recessed lights, essentially transparent (i.e., clear) lens protectors have been fastened to the bumper cutouts of some trucks. Lens protectors are available from RoVi Tooling & Plastics, Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas for a few specific trucks.
Transparent plastic protectors for some recessed truck lights have been carefully crafted by RoVi to match the cutouts in original equipment (i.e., O.E.M.) bumpers. Such protectors are injection molded of plastic to provide a generally planar shield portion in combination with two or more integral wedges or retainers. The retainers are integrally formed with the shield in order to dependably and repeatedly match the cutout dimensions and the thicknesses of the bumper or other body component. Such one-piece shields have just enough flexibility in their planar portions so that a modest bending moment can be applied to temporarily distend such portions in order that the fixed retainers may be inserted behind the bumper cutout; when correctly positioned, the shields will snap into place. Once the shield is properly positioned, the retainers assure a snug fit to prevent loosening of the shield under normal operating conditions.
Those who have had any significant experience with the vehicle after-market business will recognize, however, that replacement components for vehicle body parts--such as bumpers--are not always formed to the same specifications as original equipment parts. In some cases, tolerances on replacement bumpers for trucks vary so substantially from original specifications that lens protectors which are sized to match the cutouts in O.E.M. bumpers cannot be installed in the cutouts of replacement bumpers. One reason for this disparity between "factory original" and replacement bumpers may be that original bumpers are often stamped from coiled steel using huge presses in such a way that every bumper is identically sized and the location of every cutout is tightly controlled. On the other hand, replacement bumpers may be made with much less expensive equipment, and a simple oxyacetylene torch may be used to cut spaced openings for auxiliary driving lights. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that traditional cutting torches just cannot maintain the kinds of tolerances that are obtained with dies and presses. Experience has shown that the width of a seven-inch cutout in a replacement bumper can vary from one product to the next by as much as one-eighth inch. Such variations in hole dimensions render the proper fitting of snap-on protectors into replacement body parts difficult if not impossible. But even if it could be physically done, it would be so costly as to be impractical to fabricate and stock an individual lens protector that is uniquely sized to fit each replacement part for an original equipment component.
Another thing that is beginning to manifest itself in the field of light shields is the recent trend to utilize high-strength, low-weight plastics as a material for replacement bumpers and fenders, especially bumpers that are designed for heavy-duty tractors of the type associated with 18-wheel rigs. Besides their lower weight, such plastic bumpers are significantly different from the steel bumpers that they replace in that their thicknesses are not uniform, either from part to part or within a single part. In fact, a plastic bumper may vary in thickness by as much as 3/16 inch from one end of a cutout to its other end that is only a few inches away. As a result of the aforementioned size disparities--which is an old problem with regard to all bumpers, and the variation in part thickness across a plastic part--which is a new problem, it is difficult to furnish lens shields as an aftermarket item for the purpose of protecting vehicle lights that are recessed behind body parts like bumpers. The present invention is designed to solve these problems by providing what may fairly be called an essentially universal shield for recessed vehicular lighting, so that a single shield of a given size can easily be installed in the cutouts of replacement body parts as well as in original "factory" (or O.E.M.) parts.
Just in case there might be any doubt about why anyone should care whether their auxiliary vehicles lights are protected from damage by flying gravel and the like, a quick trip to a vehicle parts store to check on the current prices for replacement lights should make an instant believer of any skeptic who questions the wisdom of trying to protect a light from damage instead of just replacing it when it becomes broken. And many persons who are responsible for the maintenance of interstate trucks could probably verify that it is not uncommon to have to replace one or more auxiliary driving lights after only a week of cross-country driving. Also, there are some states which do not allow large trucks to have anything other than "white" driving lights that are visible on the front of their trucks. Other states permit amber lights as auxiliary driving lights. In those states where amber lights are permissible, it would be particularly advantageous to change the apparent color of a light by placing an amber lens over a "white" light--and then easily switch back again when fog, rain or snow no longer make amber lights desirable. A driver who has both clear and amber lens shields for his driving lights can then enjoy the protection that is afforded by such shields, plus the opportunity to switch the apparent color of his or her lights at will, with both benefits being available on the road without the hassle of having to install and adjust the alignment of a recessed light.
These and other advantages will be apparent from a reading of the specification and the claims attached thereto, as well as reference to the figures of the drawing provided herewith.